Peak demand was lower in December than in years past, MISO executives said during an informational forum Tuesday.

Rob Benbow, executive director of real-time operations, said peak demand topped out at 91 GW on Dec. 15, despite blizzard-like conditions in MISO North just before Christmas that resulted in the month’s coldest temperatures.

The peak was the lowest for December in five years, when it exceeded 100 GW. The year before, December’s peak was 96 GW.

Benbow said had the wintry weather shown up outside of the holidays, it probably would have created a larger peak. He said the subdued holiday load patterns lessened demand.

In the fall, MISO projected a 104-GW winter peak would occur in January. Its all-time winter peak came in January 2014 at 109.3 GW during a polar vortex. (See MISO: Winter Could Get Tricky Despite Forecast.)

Higher natural gas prices nudged up real-time energy prices in a year-over-year comparison, from about $21/MWh in 2019 to $24/MWh.

Staff said strong winds on Dec. 23 caused MISO to register a new all-time wind peak of more than 20 GW, accounting for about 27% of the load at the time. Just five years ago, MISO was setting wind peaks of around 11 GW.

“I’m giving old news when I report on wind peaks. Because by the time I do, invariably another wind peak occurs,” MISO Independent Market Monitor David Patton said during the January Market Subcommittee meeting.

MISO operations continue to be unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Senior Vice President Todd Hillman said.

He said MISO is currently working with state and local officials on employee coronavirus vaccinations and that the RTO supports early vaccine priority for its control-room operators and IT personnel.

In the meantime, Hillman said MISO will keep stakeholders updated on when meetings can transition back to an in-person format.

“We all look forward to the time to get back together,” he said.